Señora Supervia taught at Sidwell Friends School from 1945 to 1978. “It was not a school to me, it was part of my home. And that is why I stayed many, many years,” she said upon her retirement.

Her exploits were the stuff of legend. Señora Supervia worked directly with the President of the Spanish Republic Manuel Azaña, fighting against General Francisco Franco and the forces of fascism. Exiled to Paris, she raised funds for Republican fighters and worked to rescue her husband, Rafael, from a prison camp in North Africa. They reunited in France and escaped on one of the last boats from Marseilles, bound for the Dominican Republic, where she promptly founded what became the leading school in Santo Domingo. She and Rafael then immigrated to the United States, when she received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to study at Columbia University. She was friends with a dazzling array of international intellectuals, including those in the Spanish diaspora, from Federico Garcia Lorca to Marta Casals Istomin. Some say she was friends with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. She studied directly with Maria Montessori and Anna Freud.

Additional links for information on Señora's amazing life:

• Enciclopedia de Mujeres "Oliva Sabuco"

This tribute is an emotional approach to an illustrious Valencian character, through a collection of testimonies of relatives, friends, etc. Guillermina Medrano (Albacete, 1912 - Valencia, 2005), teacher and pedagogue, first woman councilor of the City Council of Valencia. With some of her descendants we approach the story of an essential woman to understand the reformative illusion and the tragedy of thousands of Valencian teachers at the end of the Civil War.  Video reposted with permission from À Punt Mèdia (https://apuntmedia.es)